A good drama played out with western trappings, but without fist fights, gun play and lots of riding. Two men, William Farnum (Cash Holbrook) and J. Farrell MacDonald (Jeff Cameron) find a baby in a covered wagon at a deserted camp site. Farnum winds up with the boy after they quarrel over the child. Twenty years later the men are bitter enemies and MacDonald controls the access to the only nearby water and won't grant access to Farnum's cattle. Meanwhile the boy, Bill Boyd (Bill Holbrook), is a handsome young man trained in mining engineering. Boyd finds precious metals on MacDonald's land and wants his adoptive father to make up with his former friend and go into the mining business together. Well, Clark Gable, yes THAT Clark Gable (Rance Brett) shows up at the MacDonald ranch and is taken on as a worker. And, MacDonald now has a beautiful daughter Helen Twelvetrees (Mary Ellen Cameron). Well, that's the lay of the land - how things work out is the drama. So, you've got an interesting and convoluted plot, a good script, fine acting and lots of trouble and drama - its a good mix and worth viewing.

It's a different kind of western, with little action, all right, but it has a good plot and excellent performances, especially from the veterans William Farnum (Cash) and J. Farrel MacDonald (Jeff). Their interpretation of two friends turned into enemies over the infant they found in the desert and later exacerbated by a conflict in water interests is excellent. Helen Twelvetrees (Mary Ellen) is a flesh and blood Betty Boop and shows with her faces the transition from silent film heroines to those of the sound era. The plot has a simple, but coherent structure that leads to a happy ending. In the whole, "The Painted Desert" has not much of action but it's an enjoying western movie to watch.
~IMDB

A film released by RKO Radio Pictures which marks the debut of Clark Gable in a talkie. Gable's performance as Rance Brett, an unshaven former criminal who does not feel sorry about the crimes he has committed, made him an important supporting actor overnight as the result of an avalanche of unexpected fan mail and opened the door for him to become "The King of Hollywood" during the 1930s. The low-budget Western stars William Boyd in his pre-Hopalong Cassidy days as well as early sound star Helen Twelvetrees.
~From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

William Boyd and Clark Gable, during the making of the film (11 October 1930), narrowly escaped serious injury from falling rock after two tons of explosives went off with considerably more force than planned in Dinosaur Canyon, some 70 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. While Boyd and Gable were 200 feet from the blast, rocks and boulders rained down between where they were standing. Not so lucky were a number of technicians, some 15 of whom were taken to hospitals in Flagstaff and Tuba City, and director Howard Higgin, who suffered a broken ankle and various cuts. The female lead, Helen Twelvetrees, had already returned to Los Angeles, as most of the principal photography was completed. Dynamite and black powder had been placed in the face of a 400-foot cliff and in an old mine tunnel, the explosion being expected to crumble the cliff. Unexpected presence of hard rock lent the blast violence that had not been anticipated, and showered rock and stone over an area of nearly half a mile.
~IMDB

CAST:
William Boyd as Bill Holbrook
Helen Twelvetrees as Mary Ellen Cameron
William Farnum as Bill 'Cash' Holbrook
J. Farrell MacDonald as Jeff Cameron
Clark Gable as Rance Brett
Charles Sellon as Tonopah
Hugh Adams as 'Dynamite'
Wade Boteler as Bob Carson - Ore Wagon #1 Driver
Will Walling as Kirby
Edmund Breese as Judge Matthews
Edward Hearn as Tex
William Le Maire as Denver
Richard Cramer as Provney - Ore Wagon #1 Shotgun Rider
~From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

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That plot description was lifted word for word from IMDB.com.